Torment - Lauren Kate [0]
FALLEN
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Tinderbox Books, LLC and Lauren Kate
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89717-7
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v3.1
FOR ELIZABETH, IRDY, ANNE, AND VIC.
I HAVE BEEN SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, inexpressible thanks to my readers for all the effusive and generous support. Because of you, I may just have to keep writing forever.
To Wendy Loggia, whose belief in this series was a great gift, and who knows just how to make it more like what it always wanted to be. To Beverly Horowitz for the sharpest pep talk I’ve ever received, and the dessert you stuffed into my purse. To Krista Vitola, whose good-news emails have made so many of my days. To Angela Carlino and the design team, for the jacket that could launch a thousand ships. To my traveling partner Noreen Marchisi, Roshan Nozari, and the rest of the tremendous marketing team at Random House. You are magicians. To Michael Stearns and Ted Malawer, tireless geniuses. Your wit and encouragement make you almost too much fun to work with.
To my friends, who keep me sane and inspired. To my family in Texas, Arkansas, Baltimore, and Florida for so much exuberance and love. And to Jason, for every single day.
Contents
Cover
Other Books by this Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Prologue - Neutral Waters
Chapter 1 - Eighteen Days
Chapter 2 - Seventeen Days
Chapter 3 - Sixteen Days
Chapter 4 - Fifteen Days
Chapter 5 - Fourteen Days
Chapter 6 - Thirteen Days
Chapter 7 - Twelve Days
Chapter 8 - Eleven Days
Chapter 9 - Ten Days
Chapter 10 - Nine Days
Chapter 11 - Eight Days
Chapter 12 - Seven Days
Chapter 13 - Six Days
Chapter 14 - Five Days
Chapter 15 - Four Days
Chapter 16 - Three Days
Chapter 17 - Two Days
Chapter 18 - Thanksgiving
Chapter 19 - The Truce is Broken
Epilogue - Pandemonium
About the Author
For, if I imp my wing on thine
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
—GEORGE HERBERT, Easter Wings
PROLOGUE
NEUTRAL WATERS
Daniel stared out at the bay. His eyes were as gray as the thick fog enveloping the Sausalito shoreline, as the choppy water lapping the pebble beach beneath his feet. There was no violet to his eyes now at all; he could feel it. She was too far away.
He braced himself against the biting gale off the water. But even as he tugged his thick black pea coat closer, he knew it was no use. Hunting always left him cold.
Only one thing could warm him today, and she was out of reach. He missed the way the crown of her head made the perfect resting spot for his lips. He imagined filling the circle of his arms with her body, leaning down to kiss her neck. But it was a good thing Luce couldn’t be here now. What she’d see would horrify her.
Behind him, the bleat of sea lions flopping in heaps along the south shore of Angel Island sounded the way he felt: jaggedly lonely, with no one around to hear.
No one except Cam.
He was crouched in front of Daniel, tying a rusty anchor around the bulging, wet figure at their feet. Even engaged in something so sinister, Cam looked good. His green eyes had a sparkle and his black hair was cut short. It was the truce; it always brought a brighter glow to the angels’ cheeks, a shinier sheen to their hair, an even sharper cut to their flawless muscled bodies. Truce days were to angels what beach vacations